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Tag Archives: green

Oops. So some things have come up (like field work being super stressful this summer- why did I start my master’s program the year before a drought?!? Ah…hindsight…). Anyway, now that summer’s over, I want you to know that I haven’t given up on my 23 projects in 3 months goal. I have still been doing my crafty-things however I have neglected to post ANY OF THEM. So in an effort to procrastinate getting ready to back to school on Wednesday here I go!

Project 3 (bubble necklace) was started a long time ago. Then, I moved and it went in a zip lock bag never to be seen again until today. At least all the pieces went in a zip lock, which is more than I can say for the majority of my projects.

Anyway, you start out with this!

I used green (986), cream(822), and black(310) embroidery thread (school colors) which I kept intact instead of pulling apart into individual threads.

plastic “bone rings” of different sizes (I ripped off the tag and apparently threw it away so I’m not sure on the size)

I’m pretty sure I used a size 4/2.00mm crochet hook, as this is the only one that was missing from my kit… (>.< NO WORRIES! IT HAS BEEN FOUND!)

Some sort of ribbon, rope, string, wire, or chain for the necklace. I didn’t know right away what I would end up liking so there’s a variety in the pic.

Single crochet around each of the rings and tie off. To get something like this.

Tuck your ends in (I was having some issues with this as I crochet super tight for no apparent reason)

Then arrange and sew together. I just crochet them together with slip knots (again, make your life easier by making your single crochet looser than mine!).

Attach your choice of necklace. I used chain and jump rings. I need to go get a clasp but right now it’s large enough to fit over my head so I might just leave it like that.

All I have to do now is tuck in my ends!

What do you think?

If you guys would like a more in depth tutorial just ask! I’d be happy to show you how to single crochet or slip knot the rings together.

Alright, so what do we do with A LOT of left over fabric? We use it. We use a yard to make a pillow, or a quarter to make a stuffed animal. So after several suggestions I decided I would try my hand at making the braided rag rug suggested by Crochetycrochetlady. Other than the fact that it was a PAIN IN THE BUTT, I think it’s coming along nicely :).

If I were to ever do this project again, I would use double sided fabric that didn’t fray. It would not only have been finished SIGNIFICANTLY sooner but I wouldn’t have ran out of the 6 spools of green thread that I had to buy so that my strips would have finished edges…and still need to go out and buy more. That is, however, the only expense I had for this project. I already had all of the fabric necessary for the project (unfortunately it didn’t use up nearly enough :P) and I braid like speed demon so no problems there.

So what do you need for this project?

About 5 yards of fabric cut into 1″ strips
A clothes pin
Safety Pins
thread to match your fabric
invisible thread
a sheet of fabric the shape and size of your finished rug

To begin, sew three strips together into a “T.” I stitched up to 12 of my cut strips together at a time so I could spend some time sewing and then time braiding however, in order to do this roll up one of the three tails and secure it with the clothes pin so you don’t end up with a tangled mess on your hands. So braid away. I made an oval rug and it took me a minute to think about it but it made sense that however long you make the center strip is the difference between the length and width of the finished project. So, if you want a 3’x5′ rug you need your center strip to be 2 feet long. Mine was just under three feet long so mine finish project will be roughly 5’x 2′ or 6’x3′ depending on how much I want to do. In order to make such a tight turn for the first couple rounds skip a couple strands in the braid. I know that doesn’t really make any sense but I’ll post a picture tomorrow. I have a book that has an absolutely beautiful diagram of it.

Anyway, after the first couple rounds you don’t need to do any special braiding and can just make a straight regular braid. After I had roughly 52 yards [give or take, I used the very scientific fingertip to nose method of measuring (which I actually measured once and was actually pretty accurate for my arm length)] I wrapped it up and safety pinned it so that I could see about how large my rug is and this is what I ended up with.

That’s Daggett, he stole his sister’s bed and she’s not too happy about it but he’s helping me by holding that corner together. ><

He looks so innocent…BAH has he got you fooled!

Now I’m going to add a little more green around the outside edge because I think I have something like 30 or 40 more strips cut already. Then I should be done. As for size, I think it’s almost 5’x2′. By the time I get the rest of my already cut strips on it’ll be about 5.5’x2.5′. We’ll see how it looks again then.

When I do get finished with my braid, I’m going to take my rug sized fabric and finish the edges. Then, I will sew it all together, starting in the center and working clockwise with the invisible thread using the zig-zag stitch. We work clockwise so the rug won’t get jumbled up in the sewing machine arm.

I’ll post pictures when I’m done, I just wanted you all to know I wasn’t being a TOTAL bum 😛